THE Linford Christie-coached athlete was such as prestigious talent as a junior, winning the inaugural world youth title in 1999 and in 2000, Lewis-Francis stormed to a 10.10 PB at Crystal Palace in August which was enough to guarantee him a place on the 4x100m relay team for the Olympic Games in Sydney, but Lewis-Francis opted to concentrate on the World Junior Championships in Santiago, where he was one of the stars of the championships, winning gold medals in the 100m and 4x100m. Lewis-Francis also holds British age-group records at 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

In 2001, Lewis-Francis appeared as though he had already made a smooth transition into the senior ranks, winning a bronze at the World Indoors and winning the European Cup. Having been selected for the World Championships, Lewis-Francis blasted to a 9.98 clocking but agonisingly for him, this could not be ratified as a world junior record due to a lack of a wind-reading.

Having pulled up injured in the Commonwealth final in 2002, Lewis-Francis made the semi-finals at the World Championships in 2003 but 2004 saw the Birchfield Harrier achieve his greatest success and having been unlucky to narrowly missed the Olympic 100m final by one place, Lewis-Francis anchored the British team home to a triumphant victory over the American squad.

Despite winning a bronze medal in the 4x100m at the World Championships, injury meant that after a promising early season patch, Lewis-Francis did not progress past the quarter-final stage in Helsinki.

After a disappointing 2006 stage, Lewis-Francis had discovered some good form at the World Championships in 2007, but again, the Brit was unlucky to miss the final by only one place but for the second successive World Championships event, Lewis-Francis won a bronze in the 4x100m relay.

Lewis-Francis missed the 2008 campaign through an achilles tendon injury. 2010 saw him return to his very best form with silver medals over 100m at both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

He was originally coached by the late Steve Platt from the age of 12. In the 2005 New Year Honours list he was awarded the MBE.